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Wednesday, September 30, 2015

CJEU Schrems Decision Coming October 6

On September 23, the CJEU Advocate General's issued his blockbuster opinion in the Schrems case that the European Commission's adequacy decision with respect to Safe Harbor is - and should declared - invalid and that member state DPAs should determine for themselves whether data transfers under the mechanism should be stopped. Six days later, on September 29, as the privacy community was still grappling with the enormous implications of this opinion, the Court of Justice, barely skipping a beat, announced via its Twitter account that it will publish its ruling in the Schrems case on Tuesday, October 6 at 9:30 am.A day earlier, on September 28, the US Mission to the EU released the first official response of the US government to the AG's opinion, contending that it rests upon inaccurate assertions about US
intelligence practices and a misinterpretation of ongoing US-EU discussions to
strengthen Safe Harbor. The Mission predicted far-reaching and profound consequences should the CJEU follow the AG's opinion.